COVID-19 Daily Update - May 17

Karnataka reports 55 new cases on today, most of the new cases are among those who have returned from Mumbai.Lockdown 4.0 is announced until May 31, but several exemptions are allowed. The decision to resume public transport has been left to the states. The final tranche of the economic package allocates an additional amount to MGNREGA. And Amulya takes a look at how various countries around the world are exiting from the lockdown.

The daily update with Suraksha Pinnu.
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Hello. This the daily COVID update from Deccan Herald.

On the bulletin today:

Karnataka reports 55 new cases, most of whom are those who have returned from Mumbai...Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announces the final tranche of the Economic package...Amulya looks at the lockdown status of countries from around the world… but first the news, we’ll all been waiting for...

India has extended the lockdown until May 31st, however, more exemptions have been allowed this time. States can decide on Red, Orange and Green zones and demarcate containment and buffer zones accordingly.

Inter-state travel for buses and passenger vehicles will be allowed with the consent of both the states.

Intra-state travel will be decided by the states. In Karnataka, Transport Minister Laxman Savadi says a decision on allowing operation of public transport will be taken on May 18th.
Domestic and international air travel has not yet been allowed permission to resume.

Metro rail will stay closed.

Educational institutions, Hotels and restaurants, movie halls, malls, gyms, bars, theatres will continue to remain closed.

Religious places will stay closed.

No gatherings will be allowed.

Night curfew between 7 pm and 7am will continue.

States have the right to prohibit certain activities in various zones, or impose restrictions as necessary based on their assessment of the situation.
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Here’s a quick look at the number of cases reported from the country today...

As we go into this recording more than 55,000 people are active carriers of the novel coronavirus in the country.

The country has reported more than 94,000 cases of the virus since January this year.
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ICMR tested more than 93,000 samples for the novel coronavirus in the last 24 hours, and has conducted more than 22 lakh tests so far.
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Moving on, a quick look at how the states did today.

Maharashtra has added a staggering 2,347 new cases today and now has over 24,000 active cases.

Delhi reported 422 new cases and 19 more deaths, the total number of cases reported are nearing the 10K mark.

Tamil Nadu registered 639 new cases today after, a spike after a few days in which cases had dropped. The state has over 6000 active cases.

Rajasthan has 123 new cases and 1963 active cases.

West Bengal added 101 cases and Odisha 91.
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Moving on to the COVID-19 situation in Karnataka, 55 new cases have been reported from across the state. With the return of migrant workers, the spread of the infection has traveled far beyond Tier-1 cities.

Of the 55 cases reported today, 40 are those who have returned from Maharashtra, 37 of these have returned from Mumbai.

Of the 22 cases from Mandya, 18 are linked to travel to Mumbai.

All six cases in Hassan and 2 from Shivamogga and Dharwad have returned from Mumbai as have 6 out of Kalaburagi’s 10 new cases.

Udupi, Dakshina Kannada and Yadgir districts have all reported 1 case among those who have returned from the city.
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Many from Kalaburagi and Yadgir districts travel to Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru and other parts of the country in search of jobs every year, and now these districts are seeing the second wave of COVID-19 infections after migrant workers travelled back home after the lockdown.

Nearly 12,000 migrant workers, approximately 90% from Maharashtra, have returned to Kalaburagi district after the lockdown relaxation. As many as 50,000 migrants are expected to travel back to the district in the coming days. The next big challenge for the district administration in Kalaburagi will be to cope with the influx. Those who have returned have been placed under institutional quarantine at 294 quarantine centres, in their respective taluks and their health is being monitored on a daily basis. However common bathroom facilities at these centres are a cause for concern, as it is a source of infection.
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The state recorded one death in the past 24 hours. Patient-1093, a 54-year-old man from Udupi was admitted with cardiac issues on the 14th of May and tested positive for COVID-19 on the 16th.

With this, the state has reported 1,247 cases in total, nearly half of which are active cases and 13 are in the ICU. 509 patients have been successfully treated and discharged. 37 people have died so far. The state has tested more than 7000 samples in the last 24 hours.
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The Finance Minister announced the last tranche of the financial stimulus to deal with the uncertainties created by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Almost all sectors of the economy have been thrown open to private enterprises barring the strategic ones.

An announcement of a new public sector enterprises policy is expected.

Apart from this, an additional allocation of 40,000 crore rupees was made to MGNREGS, which is expected to generate 100 days of employment for three crore workers.

Debt related to the COVID-19 situation will be excluded from default under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, and fresh proceedings will not be initiated for a year.

For MSMEs, a special insolvency framework will be notified under which the minimum threshold to initiate insolvency proceedings will be raised from 1 lakh to 1 crore.
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At least 116 migrant workers, who were walking or had hitched a ride on trucks to reach their native villages during this lockdown, have been killed and over 150 injured in road or train accidents since May 1.

A note prepared by the Ministry of Home Affairs on the National Migrant Information System on May 16 said that 3.5 lakh migrant workers have been moved in 350 special trains so far and more such journeys are being planned. However, thIs falls short when compared to the number of migrants wanting to return home.

Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla wrote to states on Friday saying they would be responsible if migrant workers are seen walking through roads and rail tracks. He put it on the states to counsel migrant workers to ensure that they take the special trains.
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In news from Karnataka...the State has spent around 255 crores of the 1,054 crores available under the State Disaster Relief Fund, on the COVID-19 crisis.

The funds have been used on quarantine centres, PPEs and also cluster containment measures.

The state has received 395 crores from the Centre so far, and is entitled to 395 crores in addition to what it has received until now. Authorities fear that the State may fall short of funds to deal with other disasters such as floods or drought in this financial year.
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Karnataka is set to benefit from the mining reforms announced as part of the fourth tranche of the economic package yesterday, according to Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa, who also said that the changed policy, will now complement the state’s mineral policy.

Mining activities are expected to be carried out without any hurdles in the state. Karnataka has been rocked by mining scams in the past.
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And moving on, countries across the world have spent a good part of 2020 under lockdown. In our weekly round up of international news, Amulya takes a look at what other countries around the world are planning to do. Amulya.
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As India’s lockdown 3.0 comes to an end and the country slowly starts to open up, others across the world are doing the same thing.

In Germany and Austria, restaurants finally opened this weekend for the first time in two months. People are expected to follow social distancing rules and wear masks.

Thanks to rigorous testing and other proactive measures...the reproduction rate of the coronavirus fell to 0.94 this week, below the critical threshold. That is, new infections are slowing down.

Austria is even planning to resume cultural activities as early as next month. Initially only 100 will be allowed to gather at a time and by August, nearly 1000 would be allowed. Austria’s success lies in closing the country early on, when the cases were less than 1000 and hardly any deaths had taken place.

Slovenia too announced that the coronavirus crisis has come to an end in the country. It’s the first country in Europe to do so. For the last two weeks, it has reported less than 7 cases per day.

Italy is expected to lift all travel restrictions by June 3. Italy has seen both its death and positive cases dip.

France is planning to reopen its restaurants by June 2 and is possibly one of the few European nations to take this step despite not registering a significant let down in cases.
The coronavirus seems to be on a backfoot in Europe as EU citizens can now enter Europe freely, but non-EU citizens will have to go through a 14-day quarantine.

In Australia too, many states have started easing the lockdown restrictions. The number of tests conducted in the country crossed 10 lakhs on Saturday, with New South Wales and Victoria having some of the highest per capita testing rates globally.

After 46 days of complete lockdown, New Zealand too is slowly opening up the country. The country implemented the lockdown when it had reported just 100 cases, but was predicted to be on the same trajectory as Italy. However, the lockdown has worked, since the country has seen just 21 deaths, all above 60 and are from the same cluster.

New Zealanders seem to be taking social distancing norms very seriously, as even the President of the country, Jacinda Ardern was turned away from a cafe on Saturday over lack of space owing to the distancing rules.

Currently, the rules stipulate a maximum of 100 people with at least 1 metre distance between seated groups in restaurants.

All these countries seem to be coming out of lockdown with stories of success to share. India is coming out of a lockdown when cases continue to increase with each day. If the country was caught unprepared while going into the lockdown, has it managed to prepare itself enough to exit it? The next few weeks should have an answer.
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And with that we’re completely out of time today...for the latest updates, log on to deccanherald.com. Stay safe and we’ll see you tomorrow.